The present invention relates to the art of support systems. It finds particular application in conjunction with system interfaces between, for example, an operations support system and an element management system in a telecommunications network, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present invention is also amenable to other like applications and/or other types of networks.
Typically, in telecommunication networks as well as other network environments, users desire the ability to efficiently and effectively manage (i.e., monitor, regulate, configure, etc.) a network element (NE), e.g., a telecommunications switch or other like devices. Often, an operations support system (OSS), such as a network management system, is employed to manage any number of NEs. Generally, the OSS is made up of the software and the corresponding hardware that controls, monitors, manages, maintains, and performs the functions that keep the network operating efficiently.
At times, an element management system (EMS) is employed in connection with the management or administration of one or more NEs. The EMS is generally a system that sits in front of an NE primarily for the purpose of interfacing the NEs to other network components. For example, consider an NE that has a particular function. In the case of a telecommunications switch, the main function is to switch calls. If other systems or network components want to interface with it (e.g., to get billing data from the switch, or to put controls on the switch so it drops certain calls to a particular called number that is currently too busy to handle additional calls, etc.), the EMS sits in front of the NE in order to handle the interactions with the external network components or systems. These interactions are typically incidental or secondary to the main function of the NE, in this case, switching calls. In this manner, the OSS typically interfaces with one or more EMSs to support the network and manage the NEs. Alternately, the OSS interfaces directly with the NE. In this case, the EMS may be represented by the NE itself.
Regardless of whether the OSS accesses the NE through an interface with the EMS or it interfaces directly with the NE, the prior developed interfaces for accomplishing this task have certain drawbacks. Often, these previously developed interfaces are very network element specific. Different NE and/or EMS vendors may or may not follow any kind of standard. They tend to have different ways to obtain data, issue commands or controls and different representations of the same type of data. There is not much uniformity in support systems interfaces and it""s generally not the network element""s main function so they may or may not have made it very easy to interface with them. Accordingly, the OSS has to be developed with multiple custom interfaces, and a large amount of time is spent on developing the interfaces to try to meet or be compatible with the custom or non-standard NE or EMS data models.
Consequently, across a network, there may multiple types of interfaces to network elements supporting different views of data. Not only does it take a substantial amount of resources to develop and accommodate the many different interfaces, if a change is made on the NE or EMS side, it is a peer to peer change that requires a change on the OSS side. For example, if a new functionality is added to the NE or EMS, then on the OSS side new code has to be written to support the new functionality or mechanism that has been provided.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved interface which overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a network is provided. It includes an operations support system for managing one or more network elements, and an interface between the operations support system and each network element. The interface includes a network element side mediator object and a corresponding operations support side proxy mediator object. During initialization of the interface, method calls from the proxy mediator object to the mediator object are employed by the operations support system to obtain a list of data tables supported by the network element. The interface also includes a network element side interface object and a corresponding operations support system side proxy interface object. In this case, during initialization of the interface, method calls from the proxy interface object to the interface object are employed by the operations support system to obtain a list of attributes for each data table supported.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an interface is provided in a network having an operations support system for managing one or more network elements. The interface exists between the operations support system and each network element. It includes a network element side mediator object and a corresponding operations support side proxy mediator object, wherein during initialization of the interface, method calls from the proxy mediator object to the mediator object are employed by the operations support system to obtain a list of data tables supported by the network element. The interface also includes a network element side interface object and a corresponding operations support system side proxy interface object, wherein during initialization of the interface, method calls from the proxy interface object to the interface object are employed by the operations support system to obtain a list of attributes for each data table supported.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method of interfacing an operations support system with network elements managed thereby is provided in a network. The method includes defining a number of different container objects. Each container object is used with a distinct data type having common characteristics. The method further includes initializing the interface between the operations support system and the network elementsDuring interface initialization each table description includes an identification of the container object that the data table is associated with. Thereafter, data tables are passed between the operations support system and the network elements in their associated container objects. By encapsulating the table inside of a container object, the table definition can be changed for the various interfaces to network elements without affecting the OSS interface.
One advantage of the present invention is standardized interfacing between operations support systems and network elements that is data model independent.
Another advantage of the present invention is more efficient data handling across the interface.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is the ability to negotiate changes to data models and the network environment or configuration.
Still further advantages and benefits of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.